Flight Plans - Part Two (of Six): Centennial

Posted: Thursday, February 5, 2004
Posted By: Jason Brice

Welcome to the second of six weekly news features spotlighting the heroes set to debut in Alpha Flight Volume 3, next month. The new series is written by Scott Lobdell, formerly the self described "go-to-guy for all things X", and illustrated by Clayton Henry.

Last week Scott and I discussed the new Puck, and this week the focus turns to Centennial, Alpha Flight's nonagerian hero. Little is known about the African American rest-home resident, so I tried to dig into how Scott developed the character...

Jason Brice: Did you have to do any special rest home research to be able to write Centennial?

Scott Lobdell: When I was 23 years old, I worked for a year and a half as a Nurse's Aide at Eden Park Nursing Home in Poughkeepsie, New York. It was the best job I ever had outside of writing. (Comically enough, we would get paid on Thursdays and have to walk out past the person who gave us our checks. More often than not, she would have to call out to me and remind me it was pay day. That is: a] how much I loved my job, that I didn't even think about getting paide... and b] an indication that I am as absent minded and idiot today as I was twenty years ago.

And while I loved it mucho, I had eventually burnt out on the job because I just got too emotionally attached to the patients. It was just too devestating to bond with a favorite patient (Like Helen, or John, or Gerta) who would pass away. I give total props to the legion of loving and caring health care workers who manage to do it year in and year out and still have such compassion for the people they are helping.

JB: What are his powers? Does he have an electrified walking frame to zap evil-doers? Does he like to eat his dinner in time to get the early-bird special?

SL: His powers are pretty traditional super powers -- at least at first. "A little flying, a little super strength..." but will develop over time. Rutherford is new to the role of super hero, so it is going to take a little to get his legs underneath him.

Regarding your walker joke? Umm... It is ageist, and making fun of old people is not what this character is about.

Similarly, regarding early bird specials? Rutherford has been in the nursing home since his early seventies -- about twenty five years before the start of the series. He doesn't know from early bird specials or having to budget his money accordingly. We'll see what happens when he finally starts living on his own -- but I can tell you this much, the guy (and his personal history) is full of surprises!

JB: Is he the oldest human superhero in the Marvel Universe? Or is he just the wrinkliest human superhero in the Marvel Universe?

SL: I am assuming THOR is much older, by several thousand years. And with the apparent death of SKIN, the answer to your second question might be a yes... except that it too is ageist and so it doesn't warrant an answer.

JB: Are you basing his personality on anyone in particular? Is Centennial really grand-pappy Lobdell?

SL: If anything he is very close to my father in terms of personality. The truth is, I did not know my own Grand-pappy Lobdell very well. He lived in Canada while I was growing up, so I only saw him very rarely. And when he did come South of the border to New York, I always got the impression he was a bit overwhelmed by the multitude of Lobdell grandchildren (there were seven of us).

And while my father is happily married to his wife of fifty years, we're going to learn that Rutherford has spent a good part of his life in mourning for the one who got away.

JB: Was there any resistance from editorial at having a character so clearly outside the typical comic book reading demographic?

SL: Not that I am aware of... if there was, it was never expressed to me.

JB: How would you characterize his relationship with the rest of the Alphans?

SL: My impression is that he thinks they are certainly an odd bunch -- and he's right. (But, and I think this is very important, whenever I talk to people about their grandparents, I'm always amused by people who say "Yeah, Old People
- they are so set in their ways". What an absurd thing to say. I mean, just think about it... at ninety years old, you've been around for the assimilation of the automobile into American society, the creation of the commercial
airline industry, the proliferation of the telephone, television, motion pictures, color movies and color television, Prohibition, two World Wars, Vietnam, Watergate, evertyhing from the roaring twenties, the Depression, the repressed
50s, the swinging 60s, the corporate greed of the eighties and nineties, the Pill, abortion on demand, the Civil Rights movement, the birth of Rock and Roll, answering machines, voice mail, home computers, the Internet... on and on and
on and on! My feeling is that "old people" are the most adaptable people in the world. They have seen it all. The idea that they are "set in their ways" has always been a headscratcher to me.

JB: So, why would Walt want to recruit a crotchety old dude, then?

SL: No offense, Jason -- I realize in a way you're going for a laugh, but I'm going to use it as an opportunity to point out one of the biggest problems with our society as a whole. Like, why is it if we're talking about old comics or old cars or vintage clothes or antiques...we automatically associate great worth to something BECUASE it is old? And yet, when we talk about old people, they are somehow often thought of as having depreciated in value over the years?

I don't see it that way, and I don't think Walter sees it that way either. The elderly are one of our most valuable resources...and, sadly, they are finite as individuals. That is, they are each and every one of them, at some point, going to pass on...and if you have an elderly person in your life, appreciate them now. And if you don't, go out and find one.

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